


I'll Chase Your Shadow (Until the Sun Goes Down)

by Lonov



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Broken Heart, Build up, Love, M/M, Pining, Romance, this is an Allison Argent appreciation zone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-01
Updated: 2013-07-01
Packaged: 2017-12-16 20:03:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/866060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonov/pseuds/Lonov
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The impulsive part of Isaac wanted to grab Scott out of nowhere one day, spin him around, and confess his feelings. He wanted to buy a thousand tubes of Pringles and spread them throughout Scott's room, because Scott loved Pringles and Isaac loved Scott. But Isaac knew he had to wait.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Chase Your Shadow (Until the Sun Goes Down)

**Author's Note:**

> The characters presented here don't belong to me. I didn't create them or their werewolvian universe. I'm not making money from this, unfortunately.
> 
> This story was written between episodes 3x03 and 3x04.

It started with a hopeless longing, a racing heart, and sweaty palms. The last time Isaac felt these symptoms he'd been locked in a box in the dungeon-like basement, desperate to escape and terrified he would die in there.

But this time was different. This time Isaac was terrified to _live_ , because the feelings he'd discovered were new and strange and, yes, crushing on Scott McCall was probably equally as dangerous as being trapped in an old freezer.

It wasn't an easy thing, realizing he had a crush on Scott. Scott was the only person to be kind to Isaac for as long as he can remember; the only person to look at Isaac as if he understood what he was going through; the only one to accept Isaac for who he was, attitude and past problems aside.

He hadn't realized his interest until he was in the vet's office with his veins turning black as he took away the pain from a dying animal, and Scott said, "I cried the first time, too," as if Isaac had nothing to be ashamed of. Isaac wasn't used to being told he had nothing to be ashamed of. So of course, as he stood in Scott's workplace and became aware of his feelings, he was promptly filled with embarrassment. It wasn't the first time he'd found another boy attractive—Isaac had known from a young age that he was interested in both genders. Usually he was attracted to girls, with curves and long hair and electrifying courage. He'd kissed girls and touched them and it worked for him just fine, so much so that he'd only been with one male before, months ago at a party similar to the rave where Jackson had turned into lizard-man and killed someone.

Isaac couldn't recall the last time he'd felt this warm when he looked at another human being. Werewolf being. Whatever. But when he looked at Scott, he knew he was in trouble. He knew it was a problem that he didn't care about anyone else, that he never really wanted to have contact with anyone else, and that Scott was straight as a pin and in love with Allison, anyway, and she loved him back, so none of it mattered.

Except that it did matter. And Isaac wished, more than anything, that it wouldn't.

Because he couldn't help it, he spent his time getting as close to Scott as possible. When they were in the locker room he tried not to watch the other boy change—he wasn't a stalker, not like that freak Matt who used to take pictures of Allison (and who Isaac still couldn't believe he used to be friends with)—but when they were done changing, and Scott's skin was covered enough that Isaac knew he wouldn't drool all over that perfect abdomen, he would get close to Scott. He would take in his scent—always the same unique, comforting smell under his shampoo and laundry detergent—and lean on him for support when he was tying his shoes, and pretend that he wasn't making things all the more difficult for himself by getting so near. If nothing else, he'd memorized Scott's scent and the swell of his shoulder and pectoral muscles, and those things comforted Isaac when he was alone in the Hale house listening to Derek pace and curse to himself.

It had gotten to the point where Isaac craved close proximity to Scott's body, where there was nothing in the world he would trade in exchange for a touch from Scott. He loved when he got a shove in the hallway or roughed up at lacrosse practice—it was playful and friendly and animalistic enough to be one of the few things that made Isaac feel alive.

Most mornings he woke up covered in sweat and exasperated about the dream he'd had the night before, and Scott's involvement in the current state of his anatomy. Even if he could help the dreams, though, he probably wouldn't. They were wonderful as long as they stayed in his mind in the dark, before fading away when the sun came up. Sometimes he worried that people would read his mind, so he kept memories of the dreams, and thoughts like them, hidden away when he was in school; at the Hale house, though, he reveled in them.

When Derek demanded that Isaac remember the memories he had about the Alpha pack, Isaac laughed in his face and tells him to suck it. He's never cared much for Derek, and he certainly didn't feel like doing him a favor. Not until Scott asked, of course, polite as fucking usual, and Isaac gave in to him easily, realizing he was truly fucked because he would do anything for this boy. Derek smirked at him when Isaac acquiesced to Scott's request, as though he knew Isaac's secret. Isaac's eyes flashed gold and he gave Derek the finger, but he wisely chose not to piss off his alpha wolf. Regardless of his snarky attitude, which had gotten him into trouble before, Isaac actually valued his life more than his pride.

Though, considering how quickly he sunk into a tub of ice at Scott's request, it could be argued that he valued Scott more than just about anything.

Which is part of the reason why he knew exactly where to go when Derek kicked him out of the house. He knew Scott would help him, would do whatever he could to make Isaac comfortable, and would get mad at Derek for being cruel.

Isaac's biggest fear was that he wouldn't be able to control himself, that Scott would find him with his hands down his boxers at three in the morning on the floor of his bedroom and freak out, send him out of his house and sprinting out the door after his dignity.

(On the flip side of this, Isaac had a rather pleasing fantasy about the exact same situation: Isaac with his hands down his pants, Scott waking up to see him there, and, this time, asking if he could help. Isaac would join him on Scott's bed and Scott would gasp out that they should have done this months ago, that he's always wanted to. Isaac tried not to think of this fantasy too much, because after a while it agitated him too thoroughly, making him moments away from running up to Scott and telling him everything, even though he knew that that was a terrible idea.)

Luckily (or unluckily), Isaac never had to worry about this. Scott put him on the couch downstairs with a pile of blankets and pillows and a promise to find him a more comfortable situation as soon as possible. Isaac was just happy to have dry clothes and to no longer be suffocated by the strong smell of Scott's bedroom, which like most things made Isaac want to jump his bones.

Once, after Isaac had moved into Scott's house, they'd gotten drunk together, and Isaac got worryingly close to telling Scott how he felt. They'd been in Scott's room with the door shut and a bottle of Jack between them, and Scott had slurred, "I'm glad you thrusted—trusted me enough to come to my house when Derek kicked you out, dude," and Isaac had said, "I always wanted to see your bedroom." Scott had laughed at that and responded with how it smelled of old socks and teenage werewolf, and Isaac had only refrained from saying "I love the way you smell" because of a small voice niggling in the back of his head that told him it was a bad idea to have that conversation right now.

Neither had mentioned it in the morning. Nor did they talk about how Scott had fallen asleep with his head in Isaac's lap. It was the only time in Isaac's life where he had been thankful for the distraction of a brutal hangover.

The next day Scott and Allison had gotten back together, and Isaac hadn't been surprised enough to be devastated. Instead he decided he needed a release, and needed to get away from Scott, so he wandered around town. Unwittingly he ended up at his old house, and almost without thinking he broke a back window and crept inside. It didn't look how he remembered it, of course—it was dusty and disheveled and it stank of must. On the couch in his old living room Isaac sat and thought about his new life. No longer was he trapped in a box in the basement, or horrified of his father. He had friends now, sort of. He had Scott. Recently he even talked to Stiles a bit, and he was finding that the other boy, while still loud, excitable, and annoyingly chipper, was all right.

He missed Erica, if he was honest, and Boyd, too. They'd been like a pack to him before he really had anyone, even when it seemed like they cared about each other more than they would ever care for him. Isaac wondered how Boyd was doing—miserable, he was sure. Boyd had only really cared about Erica. Actually, his pining for her was similar to the way Isaac pined for Scott. Which explained how furious Boyd had been that time he'd walked in on Isaac and Erica making out. Sitting on the abandoned couch in his old home, Isaac felt guilty about that for the first time.

He thought of time right after they'd been changed, when they'd only needed to exchange a glance and then, suddenly, all three of them were a storm, running through the forest together, as fast as lightning, whooping and hollering the whole time, completely and overwhelmingly happy.

"Fucking losers," Isaac muttered to himself, because he missed them and it was starting to hurt.

When he got back to the McCall house he crashed on the couch, fully clothed, without bothering to talk to Scott. Mrs. McCall, who Isaac had grown to admire more and more the longer he spent in her house, was working a late shift at the hospital. Part of Isaac was disappointed that he was still alone, even here in a house where other people lived, but most of him was relieved that he didn't have to look Scott in the face and see the goofy grin he probably had on now that he was back with Allison. Upstairs he heard someone's muffled moan, and he willed himself to fall asleep before he had to listen to Scott making out with someone else.

It took Isaac a week before he was comfortable enough to walk into the McCall household without first mentally preparing himself in the chance he might find Scott and Allison having passionate sex on the living room floor. Mrs. McCall constantly asked Isaac if he was okay ("you look nervous, sweetie, are you feeling all right? Let make take your temperature"), for which Isaac was grateful; he'd never had a mother, never had someone shower him with nagging concern. He found himself wanting to be wrapped in Mrs. McCall's arms and comforted. It was the most affection he'd felt for an adult since before his father had become abusive, and Isaac relished it. He wished he could be around her forever, could rely on her to be like a mother to him. It was less painful walking into the McCall house even when Allison was over, after he'd gotten used to talking to Scott's mom, because at least she was the for him.

Even Scott had noticed how different Isaac acted after he and Allison had gotten back together. Isaac was sure Scott had no idea that the reason for his sullenness was a broken heart. It wasn't as if Isaac had any claim on Scott anyway, so he tried as hard as he could to stop sulking in Scott's presence. And so Scott asked, over and over, what was bothering Isaac, and Isaac responded, over and over, that it was nothing.

Scott and Allison dated for a month and a half before Scott came home one day, collapsed next to Isaac on the couch, and confessed in a small voice that Allison had broken up with him, for good this time. Apparently she was tired of the fast-paced, dangerous life they were all a part of. As much as it saddened Isaac to see Scott so broken and upset, he understood where she was coming from. Scott didn't seem to blame her, either—but that didn't mean he was happy about their break-up. Isaac, not entirely sure how to act in a situation like this, ordered Chinese food and managed to track down a copy of _Underworld: Rise of the Lycans._

As much as Isaac liked Scott—which was so much that it scared him—he couldn't find any joy in Scott and Allison's break-up, not when Scott was so upset about it. Isaac slipped the movie in when the food arrived, and the two of them spent the rest of the night watching a rather ridiculous interpretation of werewolves. Scott even laughed a few times, filling Isaac with a sense of such contentment and happiness which Scott must have been able to smell on him. He didn't say anything, though; neither of them spoke. Instead, they watched the stupid movie and ate far more than they should.

At one point Isaac dozed off, and when he awoke twenty minutes later, Scott was leaning against him and sleeping, his head tucked into the crook of Isaac's arm. The smell coming off of him was cloying and calm, like the pavement after it rained, and Isaac couldn't imagine what in the world he had done to deserve this moment. Actually, he was sure he didn't deserve it, didn't deserve anything close to Scott McCall, but Isaac wouldn't have given up the feeling of Scott's crooked jaw pressed against his body for anything on Earth.

From that point forward, something shifted between them. Isaac wasn't sure if Scott felt it, too, or if he was imagining things, but every so often he would find himself in history class, looking up from his idle doodles to find Scott staring at him. And Scott, never ashamed of being caught, would only grin and wave and, often, get yelled at by the teacher for not paying attention. Sometimes, after Stiles had driven them home from school, Scott would turn to Isaac and just look at him, and without needing to ask Isaac would know that Scott wanted to run. As soon as Stiles stopped the car they would run toward the woods and transform, feeling the sun on their backs and whooping at the freedom of it.

Isaac wasn't sure what was happening, exactly, but he knew that recently he hadn't been able to talk to Scott without feeling like a school boy with his first crush. When he'd first realized his feelings for Scott, and developed them, it had always been under the pretense that they were futile because Scott was straight and in love. Isaac was pretty sure Scott was still in love with Allison, but he thought that might be fading, and he had new doubts about the straight part. His doubts stemmed from looks that lasted too long and Scott's sudden desire to cuddle and his insistence that _we should have stupid werewolf movie and Chinese take out night more often._

In fact, as per Scott's suggestion, it became a weekly thing. They didn't discuss how it began—when Scott had been dumped by Allison for the last time, and he'd been miserable—but they discussed everything else. They had their movie night on Saturdays, because Fridays were Scott-and-Stiles nights. It always ended one of two ways: with one or both of them falling asleep on the couch before the movie was over, waking up draped all over each other and (in Scott's case) blushing; or when they began a conversation during the movie and continued it until hours after it ended, talking until the early hours of the morning about anything they could think of.

More than once that topic was Allison. Scott never looked happy to talk about her, but Isaac could read Scott like a book, and he knew that Scott was an aural thinker: he liked to make everything real by saying it out loud, and he processed his feelings when he shared them with others. Isaac, for his part, was content with listening. He liked being a person Scott confided in, even if it sometimes meant listening to Scott discuss his broken heart over another person. He liked that Scott listened to him, too; he seemed to value Isaac's advice and opinions—and he was one of the first people who did.

The impulsive part of Isaac wanted to grab Scott out of no where one day, spin him around, and confess his feelings. He wanted to buy a thousand tubes of Pringles and spread them throughout Scott's room, because Scott loved Pringles and Isaac loved Scott. He was getting twitchy waiting for the right moment, waiting for Scott to show some proof that he reciprocated Isaac's feelings. But Isaac knew he couldn't act yet. Not when it had only been a few weeks since Allison and Scott had ended it.

So he waited a month, and then another. On full moon nights Scott helped Isaac contact his anchor and use it to ground him, to keep him from shifting. He was a much better teacher than Derek—probably, Isaac thought, because Scott actually gave a fuck, whereas Derek seemed to care for no one. When Derek had first kicked Isaac out of his house, things had been cold between the two of them; now, Isaac felt almost blessed by the turn of events. He might even have thanked Derek, if he didn't still think he was an asshole.

On the fourth full moon after their first movie night, a foreign wolf tribe came into Beacon Hills. They weren't all Alphas, this time—the Alpha pack hadn't come back after Derek destroyed their leader—but instead a small group similar in size to the Hale pack, looking to form an alliance through mating wolves from each pack. The Hale pack and the other, run by a female Alpha named Akosua, gathered at Derek's old, burnt home for a meeting. Neither Isaac nor Scott were entirely sure what would happen.

Which was why, when Akosua suggested Scott mate with one of her betas, Isaac was fully unprepared for his reaction.

If Derek hadn't held him back so tightly it was painful, Isaac would have fought (and surely died at the hands of) the Alpha. She bared her teeth at him and commented that she hadn't realized Derek was mating his wolves already. Derek had hissed a response back, something Isaac wasn't listening to because he was furious, and confused at that fury, and hurting where Derek's claws dug into his shoulder blade.

Eventually the other pack left and Derek turned on Isaac. Yes, he knew it was suicide to question another pack's Alpha. No, he wasn't hoping to die. No, he didn't need Derek to kill him now since, no, that wasn't what he desperately wanted. Scott watched the whole ordeal silently, as if he wasn't sure what to think of it, either. When they finally ran back home later on, they didn't speak, preferring to collapse into their respective sleeping quarters as soon as they possibly could. Standing up to an Alpha, Isaac learned, was exhausting. Apparently, if Scott was any indication to go by, so was almost being sold to one.

Scott was strangely silent the next day, which made Isaac nervous, because Scott was never quiet. He gave terse, monotonous responses to Isaac's questions, to the point where the other boy was going crazy. Was it about him? Had he done something? Finally, unable to stand the tension, Isaac had walked into Scott's room, noted the impressive state of his shirtless housemate, and swiftly tackled him onto the floor, pinning his shoulders down as he asked, completely annoyed, what his problem was.

Scott's insistence of "not a problem—Isaac—get off—" was readily ignored, and Isaac repeated his question until Scott finally huffed out a breath and glared at him. It wasn't normally this easy for Isaac to overcome Scott's strength, but in that moment he was so charged with emotion and fear and uneasiness that his wolf was roaring inside him. He didn't allow Scott to move until he finally, finally, said, "I don't want to mate with anyone yet!"

No one had said anything about mating. Isaac wasn't even sure what it entailed, whether it was a simple marriage or a supernatural urge or something entirely different. Apparently Scott thought it was all of the above, because he continued to voice his concern about what had happened the day before, about how Isaac had reacted when the other Alpha wanted to mate him with someone else, and does that mean Isaac wants to be his mate, instead?

Isaac said he didn't think it worked that way, and if it did, no one told him about it. He told Scott that, no, he doesn't want to marry him, or have a supernatural bond. He didn't even know what he wants for breakfast the next day, because he's seventeen and that's okay. But he did know he didn't want Scott to leave; Derek would never let that happen, and neither would Isaac, because they cared about Scott and he was part of their pack and they needed him here.

Because Scott didn't look convinced at his answer, and because Isaac was angsty with waiting, and this seemed like as good a time as any, and they had been living together for almost seven months already, and had actually become good friends, Isaac added that, "anyway, there's a difference between having feelings for someone and wanting to be with them forever, and I don't want to be with you forever." At which point Scott's wolf overpowered Isaac's and he rolled over on top of him, both of them semi-transformed, and hissed that there was no way Isaac was serious.

So Isaac proved, in the simplest way possible, that he was. And that involved leaning his head up and kissing Scott for a long time. By the time the kiss escalated into the involvement of tongue, both boys were fully human and panting against each other. It felt right, rolling around on the floor of Scott's bedroom, with no concern for the dirty lacrosse gear they were bumping into. Isaac reached to touch every part of Scott he could reach, because he couldn't believe that this was real. It was similar enough to some of Isaac's past dreams—but they had never been so lucid. They had never excited and scared and filled Isaac with such happiness that he thought he might explode.

They kissed for most of the night after that. They didn't talk about mating anymore, or the pack; instead they explored each other’s bodies, found the joints and crevices that tickled when they were touched, and the sensitive skin behind ears and on necks that made them both whine with pleasure.

Isaac had never been so involved with someone. Even when he’d kissed people in the past he hadn't gotten so close to them, or cared enough about them to try to make it as sensual and enjoyable for them as possible. With Scott it was different—everything was different. Isaac barely cared about his own release, his own build up of tension. He caressed Scott with soft hands, touching coiled muscle as he felt the other boy hard against his thigh. Isaac couldn’t believe what was happening—Scott was interested in him? _Scott_ was interested in _him?_  Scott was kissing him everywhere and sucking on his neck and rubbing slow circles over his back with those large, calloused hands Isaac had spent so long dreaming about?

The thought of it alone was enough to make Isaac come, and he did, after timeless moments shifting his hips up to meet Scott’s and exhaling at the ambrosial feel of the body above his. Scott didn’t stop kissing him; he didn’t seem able to, caught up as he was in the moment, and Isaac wished he would continue on forever. His limbs were languid and heavy after his release, but he pushed Scott over and climbed on top of him, letting his mouth travel down the other boy’s body as he silently and reverently praised the only person who made Isaac feel alive. As he sucked a mark into Scott’s abdomen Isaac felt his muscles clench, and he reached a hand down to rub the bulge he could tell was about to explode.

Scott keened loudly and arched, sweat-slick body quivering as he came. In all his life Isaac had never witnessed something that he so desperately wanted to see again. Scott McCall, spread out and needy, reaching out for Isaac with a laugh—yes, Isaac thought, he could get used to this.

Over the next couple of weeks, he did. He and Scott spent much more time in Scott's bedroom, and after a month of fumbling hand and blow jobs, decided to announce their relationship to the world. Mrs. McCall claimed that after finding out Scott was a werewolf, nothing will shock her ever again. Stiles asked who the girl in the relationship was before Scott tackled him to the ground and made him apologize through peals of laughter. Derek glared at them, congratulated them on figuring it out, and went back to brooding in his favorite corner. Lydia looked thoroughly disinterested.

About a month after they made their relationship official, Allison asked to come over Scott's house. She appeared at his front door promptly at seven looking stiff and uncomfortable. Scott led her into his room, mouthing at Isaac that it would only be a moment and that he shouldn't worry. Of course, Isaac did worry. He stood outside the door and listened to the entire conversation. Mostly it was Allison talking about how she was sorry for ending it so badly last time, but she knew it was for the best. Isaac rolled his eyes when she said she was happy for Scott now, as if they needed her approval. When Allison left the house later that night Scott sat on his bed looking conflicted. Allison had asked to be friends—Scott wasn't sure if he wanted that.

With a heavy sigh Isaac took Scott in his arms and laid them both down in bed. He stroked Scott's hair and told him to stop fussing and to stop trying to make everyone else happy. He told him that if Scott didn't want to be friends with Allison now, he didn't have to be; and (as much as Isaac hated the thought) he told him that if he felt comfortable with the idea later on, he could always change his mind. Scott didn't seem to know what to say after that, which was a first. After a long silence in which Isaac thought Scott must have fallen asleep, he heard a soft "I love you" that gave Isaac goosebumps.

Isaac's hand, already resting on Scott's stomach, spelled a response back to him. Apparently he wasn't very good at it; after Scott inquired after several increasingly bizarre phrases he thought Isaac was writing on his skin—"you law king, too? What is that supposed to mean?"—Isaac finally took a deep breath, uneven from how hard he'd been giggling at Scott's interpretations, and whispered the words to Scott that he had been thinking for almost a year now.

"I love you, too."


End file.
